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BOX SCORE

#4 Mocs Advance to SSC Championship, Defeat #8 Tars in Semifinals Thursday

LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 4 Florida Southern Moccasins defeated the No. 8 Rollins Tars in the 2023 Sunshine State Conference semifinals Thursday night at Berend Field, 15-13. The two teams had to endure a four-hour contest that lapsed an hour and 45-minute lightning delay.

Florida Southern (16-2) was up 14-11 thanks to a Jackie Stoller free position goal with 4:38 to play in the fourth before lightning caused the delay. The teams resumed play shortly after 6:00 p.m. where the Moccasins tacked on another goal, 15-11, before Rollins (15-3) scored two unanswered goals to make it 15-13, with 13 seconds left. Florida Southern won the ensuing draw control and ran out the clock as the final horn sounded.

Madison Tare was the game’s leading scorer with six goals on eight shots while Jackie Stoller tied for the game-high six points on three goals and three assists. Hailey Daleo tallied with a pair of goals, including the Mocs’ 15^th goal, while Lizzy Lynch, Emma Dudley, Giana Murphy, and Sammy Gorrasi each found the back of the net.

Sydney O’Neill earned her fifth win of the season playing the full 60 minutes in goal with nine saves, including multiple on free position shots late in the game to hold the Tars off the board.

Rollins saw two players tally three goals each in Abigail Cawley and Caroline Gastonguay, while the two players also had two assists each to tie for the team lead in points at five. Claire Barber suffered her third loss of the season while making 12 saves on the night.

The Tars struck first thanks to a Gastonguay connection of Caroline to Charlotte, before Lizzy Lynch found Hailey Daleo for the equalizer. Caroline Gastonguay scored her first goal of the game before back-to-back Madison Tare goals allowed the Mocs to capture a 3-2 lead.

Rollins closed the quarter with a goal at 2:07 and the two teams headed to the break all knotted up at 3-3.

Sammy Gorrasi pushed Florida Southern ahead to open the second followed by another Caroline Gastonguay goal for the Tars to tie it back at 4’s. Lynch and Emma Dudley each punched one in as the Mocs reclaimed a lead, 6-4 the largest at the time.

The Tars would close the half, outscoring the Mocs 2-1 but it would be Florida Southern who held a 7-6 advantage at the halftime break.

Tare would come out firing and score on back-to-back attempts to make it 9-6 but the Tars used a momentum shift and scored three straight to tie it at 9-9 with 2:37 in the third.

Stoller would score her 55^th goal of the year with a minute to play before opening the fourth with her 56^th to extend the Mocs’ lead back to two goals, 11-9.

The Tars would once again tie things at 11-11 before Florida Southern would score three straight from Tare (2) and Stoller before the game headed into the nearly two-hour delay. Out of the weather delay, Florida Southern used all the shot clock on the first possession which ended in a Stoller feed to Daleo for the 15-11 lead.

With a few empty possession, Rollins was finally able to crack the deficit with a goal at 0:22 on the clock for the 15-12 score. The Tars won the following draw and scored on a dangerous lunging shot by Courtney Martin that stood as good with 13 seconds to play, 15-13.

Florida Southern won the final draw control and was able to take the game to its final buzzer and the teams second win over Rollins this season, both ending in two-goal games.

The Moccasins will now head to Tampa on Sunday, April 30 for the 2023 Sunshine State Conference Championship, an exact rematch of the 2022 Championship that favored the Mocs, 20-10.

The game is set to take place at the Naimoli Stadium, with a game time yet to be determined.

Scoring Summary

1st Period			RC	FSC
10:03		RC – Charlotte Gastonguay Assisted by Caroline Gastonguay	1	0
09:27		FSC – Hailey Daleo Assisted by Lizzy Lynch	1	1
08:25		RC – Caroline Gastonguay	2	1
06:48		FSC – Madison Tare	2	2
04:33		FSC – Madison Tare	2	3
02:07		RC – Jorie Alf	3	3
2nd Period			RC	FSC
11:20		FSC – Sammy Gorrasi	3	4
10:12		RC – Caroline Gastonguay Assisted by Abigail Cawley	4	4
07:07		FSC – Lizzy Lynch	4	5
04:41		FSC – Emma Dudley Assisted by Giana Murphy	4	6
02:52		RC – Abigail Cawley Assisted by Jorie Alf	5	6
01:55		FSC – Giana Murphy Assisted by Jackie Stoller	5	7
00:04		RC – Abigail Cawley	6	7
3rd Period			RC	FSC
13:33		FSC – Madison Tare	6	8
08:02		FSC – Madison Tare	6	9
05:59		RC – Abigail Cawley Assisted by Caroline Gastonguay	7	9
04:00		RC – Charlotte Gastonguay Assisted by Abigail Cawley	8	9
02:37		RC – Caroline Bailey	9	9
01:14		FSC – Jackie Stoller	9	10
4th Period			RC	FSC
14:23		FSC – Jackie Stoller	9	11
11:00		RC – Caroline Gastonguay	10	11
10:21		RC – Claire Reist	11	11
08:53		FSC – Madison Tare	11	12
07:32		FSC – Madison Tare Assisted by Jackie Stoller	11	13
04:38		FSC – Jackie Stoller	11	14
03:20		FSC – Hailey Daleo Assisted by Jackie Stoller	11	15
00:22		RC – Madison McGarry	12	15
00:13		RC – Courtney Martin	13	15

**********

No. 8 Rollins Falls to No. 4 Florida Southern in SSC Semifinal

by Michael Pierce

The Tars will find out if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA II Tournament on May 7

LAKELAND, Fla. (April 27, 2023) – The eight-ranked Rollins women’s lacrosse team came up just short on Thursday afternoon, falling to fourth-ranked Florida Southern in the semifinals of the SSC Tournament by a score of 15-13. The Tars, seeded third in the tournament, fall to 15-3 overall, while the Mocs, the two seed, go to 16-2 and move on to take on Tampa in Sunday’s championship game.

Caroline Gastonguay and Abigail Cawley each tallied five points on three goals and two assists, while Charlotte Gastonguay chipped in with two goals. Courtney Martin had a team-high four draw controls, while Claire Barber (7-3) collected a team-leading four ground balls in addition to making 12 saves on 27 shots faced.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
First Quarter

• Charlotte Gastonguay opened the scoring at the 10:03 mark of the first, with FSC quickly tying the game 36 seconds later.
• Just over a minute after the Mocs tied it, Caroline Gastonguay put home her first of the game to put Rollins back in front, 2-1.
• Florida Southern got the next two goals before Jorie Alf tied the game at three, which is where the first quarter ended.

Second Quarter

• FSC regained the lead less than four minutes into the second, but Caroline Gastonguay’s second of the day knotted things up at four at the 10:12 mark.
• The Mocs scored two straight to go up 6-4, but Abigail Cawley cut the deficit to one with 2:52 to go before halftime.
• Florida Southern scored less than a minute later, only to see Abigail Cawley find the net with just four seconds left in the half, making it a 7-6 game at the break.

Third Quarter

• The Mocs came out in the third quarter and scored back-to-back goals to push their lead to 9-6, the largest of the day up to that point.
• Abigail Cawley then completed her hat trick, and Charlotte Gastonguay and Caroline Bailey followed up with the next two goals, quickly tying things up at nine.
• FSC retook the lead once again with 1:14 on the clock, and the Mocs would carry a 10-9 advantage to the final quarter.

Fourth Quarter

• Florida Southern scored 37 seconds into the fourth to make it 11-9, but Caroline Gastonguay and Claire Reist answered back with two goals in 39 seconds, tying the game for the sixth time at 11-11.
• The Mocs got the next three goals to take a 14-11 lead before a lightning delay of nearly two hours halted play.
• After the delay, FSC scored again to build its lead to 15-11.
• Madison McGarry and Courtney Martin both scored in the closing 30 seconds of the game, but it wasn’t enough as the Tars fell, 15-13.

UP NEXT:
Rollins, currently ranked fourth in the South Region, will wait to find out if it earns an at-large bid to the NCAA II Tournament when the field is announced on Sunday, May 7.

Fans can follow the Tars all season long at RollinsSports.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest #TARnation news by following Rollins Sports on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.